New Leader for Gates Foundation's Postsecondary Work

Patrick Methvin, who has spent five years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focused on trying to spread higher education innovation, has been promoted to lead the foundation's work in postsecondary success. Methvin has been promoted from within to replace Daniel Greenstein, who stepped down this month after six years at Gates.

Before moving to Gates in 2013, Methvin consulted on education and other issues at Boston Consulting Group. He has an M.B.A. and a master's in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

While Gates is known for occasionally drastic shifts in its higher education strategy, especially at times of transition, the internal ascension of a top deputy should tamp down speculation in some quarters that Greenstein's departure would result in a meaningful alteration of the foundation's current approach.

Allan Golston, who heads Gates's U.S. program and filled in briefly as interim director, said as much in an announcement of Methvin's new role, describing him as "assuming leadership of a strategy that is strong and focused."